Methods, systems, and computer program products for associating an image with a communication characteristic

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and computer program products for associating an image with a communication characteristic are disclosed. According to one method, a content characteristic of a first image may be identified. Communication of the first image may be monitored to identify a communication characteristic of the first image. Further, the content characteristic may be associated with the communication characteristic. The association between the content and communication characteristics may be used to associate a second image having the content characteristic with the communication characteristic.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter described herein relates to methods, systems, andcomputer program products for image communication. More particularly,the subject matter described herein relates to methods, systems, andcomputer program products for associating an image with a communicationcharacteristic.

BACKGROUND

Digital photography has made the communication of images much easierthan in the past. For example, a user may communicate or share an imagewith another by attaching the image to an e-mail message, posting theimage on a website, sharing the image over an instant messaging network,or sharing the image via a mobile phone.

Typically, a user may desire to communicate the image to a particulardestination or categorize the image with other images. In order tocommunicate the image, a user must enter a destination into acommunication device or select a destination from a list in the device.The image can be categorized by creating or selecting a category andassociating the image with the category.

The communication or organization of images for communication may beinconvenient and time-consuming process for a user. As a result, a usermay long delay communicating or organizing images. Further, a user mayfail to organize or communicate images at all due to the inconvenienceof the task. Many service providers, such as mobile phone serviceproviders, collect revenue when an image is communicated using theirservices. Therefore, it is desirable for service providers to providemore convenient techniques for communicating images.

One existing technique for communicating images is to let the userdefine an image object in a system and define a destination to sendimages containing the image object when the object is recognized in animage. The system may recognize the object in images and send thoseimages to the destination when the object is recognized. This techniquerequires that the user predefine image objects and identify adestination for images including the image object. The user may bereluctant to input commands for defining image objects and identifying adestination due to the inconvenience of the task. Further, a user thatsends images to many different destinations may be even more reluctantto enter the data necessary to implement this technique.

In view of the shortcomings of existing techniques for organizing andcommunicating images, there exists a need for improved methods, systems,and computer program products for associating an image with acommunication characteristic.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes amethod for associating an image with a communication characteristic. Themethod includes identifying a content characteristic of a first image.Communication of the first image may be monitored to identify acommunication characteristic of the first image. The method includesassociating the content characteristic with the communicationcharacteristic. Further, the method includes using the associationbetween the content and communication characteristics to associate asecond image having the content characteristic with the communicationcharacteristic.

The subject matter described herein can be implemented as a computerprogram product comprising computer executable instructions embodied ina computer readable medium. Exemplary computer readable media suitablefor implementing the subject matter described herein include disk memorydevices, chip memory devices, application specific integrated circuits,and programmable logic devices. In addition, a computer program productthat implements the subject matter described herein may be located on asingle device or computing platform. Alternatively, the subject matterdescribed herein can be implemented on a computer program product thatis distributed across multiple devices or computing platforms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments of the subject matter will now be explained withreference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system forassociating an image with a communication characteristic according to anembodiment of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary process for associating an imagewith a communication characteristic according to an embodiment of thesubject matter described herein;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a flow chart of another exemplary process forassociating an image with a communication characteristic according to anembodiment of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 3C is a flow chart of an alternative embodiment of the processshown in FIGS. 3A and 3B;

FIG. 4A is a block diagram of an exemplary data structure including animage identifier and image data according to an embodiment of thesubject matter described herein;

FIG. 4B is a block diagram of an exemplary data structure including animage identifier and facial characteristics data according to anembodiment of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 4C is a block diagram of an exemplary data structure including animage identifier and scene characteristics according to an embodiment ofthe subject matter described herein; and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary data structure forcommunication characteristics according to an embodiment of the subjectmatter described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to one aspect, a system for associating an image with acommunication characteristic may be implemented as hardware, software,and/or firmware components executing on or with one or more modules of asystem operable to communicate an image. FIG. 1 illustrates an exampleof computer system 100 for associating an image with a communicationcharacteristic according to an embodiment of the subject matterdescribed herein. Computer system 100 may be any suitable system forcommunicating an image, such as a personal computer (PC), mobile phone,personal digital assistant, and the like. Further, computer system 100may be operable to communicate the image over a network. The image maybe a digital image or any other image suitable for communication.Computer system 100 may execute digital photo software for capturingimages, receiving images, and storing images in a memory.

Computer system 100 may include an image capture device 102 with whichan image is captured. Further, system 100 may include an imagecommunicator 104 for receiving an image from a network 106. Device 102may be operable to obtain an image with which content characteristics,such as facial and/or scene characteristics. Exemplary image capturedevices include traditional film cameras, digital cameras, videocameras, digital video cameras, and the like. An image may be a digitalphoto and/or video or a traditional photo and/or video which isconverted to digital format or any other suitable format that may betransmitted over a network.

Further, computer system 100 may include a user interface 108 by which auser inputs data. For example, user interface 108 may include akeyboard, a keypad, a touch screen interface, a tablet PC interface, ora mouse. The user can input commands into input interface 108 forobtaining images from capture device 102. User interface 108 may includea display for displaying images to the user. Further, user interface 108may receive user commands for controlling communication of an image.

Computer system 100 may include means for identifying a contentcharacteristic of an image. For example, system 100 may include acontent characteristic identification component 110 for identifying oneor more content characteristics of an image. Further, system 100 maystore the identified content characteristic in an image database 112.Content characteristic identification component 110 may include a facialidentification component 114 for identifying one or more facialcharacteristics in an image. For example, component 114 may identify aface in a captured image and determine a characteristic of the face. Aperson may be identified based on the facial characteristics in theimage. Facial identification component 114 may be implemented using anysuitable face recognition software, such as the product FACEVACS-SDK™provided by Cognitec Systems Corporation of Herndon, Va. TheFACEVACS-SDK product allows system integrators to integrate facialrecognition into a broad range of applications. Programming interfacesthat fit into .Net or C++ environments are provided.

Further, content characteristic identification component 110 may alsoinclude a scene identification component 116. For example, component 116may identify a scene in a captured image and determine a characteristicof the scene, such as a scene type, color, texture, contrast, andbrightness. Component 116 may be implemented using technology similar tothe scene classification technology provided in the IMAGE INTELLIGENCE®(available from Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. of Japan) that automaticallyanalyzes shooting conditions such as the light source, lightingdirection, and exposure volume, as well as the subject itself by thedetection of the facial areas, and infers from these the photographer'sintention. Another example of technology that can be used to implementscene identification component 116 is the ISAPS® technology (availablefrom Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation of Japan) that provides foranalyzing and classifying photographic scene data based on statisticalrelationships among focal length, focus distance, scene brightness, andother factors.

Image communicator 104 may be operable to communicate images. The imagesmay be communicated over network 106, such as a wireless network (e.g.,a cellular network), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), or other suitable network. For example, image communicator 104may receive an image captured by image capture device 102 or stored byimage database 112 and send the image to a destination via network 106.A destination address may be included with the image for identifying adestination for the image. Further, an image may be sent to multipledestinations. A user may input commands into user interface 108 foroperating image communicator 104 to transmit an image to a particulardestination on network 106 or another network in communication withnetwork 106.

Image communicator 104 may also receive images from network 106 oranother network in communication with network 106. Received images maybe displayed to a user via a display of user interface 108 and/or storedin image database 112. Further, content characteristic identificationcomponent 110 may determine a content characteristic of a receivedimage, such as a facial characteristic of a face in the image and/or ascene characteristic of a scene in the image.

Image database 112 may store images captured by image capture device 102and/or received by image communicator 104. Further, database 112 maystore one or more content characteristics of the stored image with thestored image and associate the content characteristics with the image.Stored images may be identified with image identifiers, such asalphanumeric characters, but may also be identified by contentcharacteristics associated with the images.

Computer system 100 may include means for monitoring communication of animage to identify a communication characteristic of the image. Forexample, system 100 may include an image communication monitor 118 formonitoring communication of an image. Monitor 118 may monitor thecommunication of images by image communicator 104. Image communicationmay be monitored for identifying one or more communicationcharacteristics associated with images. Further, for example, system 100may include a communication characteristic identification component 120for identifying a communication characteristic of an image based on themonitoring. Component 120 may use monitor 118 for monitoringcommunication of images to identify a communication characteristic ofthe images. The communication characteristic may be an attribute of acommunication action that was performed for the associated image. Thecommunication action associated with an image may include attaching theimage to an e-mail message, posting the image on a website, sharing theimage over an instant messaging network, and/or sharing the image via amobile phone. Exemplary communication characteristics may include adestination or source address for a communication, a time of acommunication, a modality of a communication, an originator of acommunication, and a receiver of a communication. Further, for example,a communication characteristic may include the action of notcommunicating an image.

Further, system 100 may include means for associating the contentcharacteristic of an image with a communication characteristic of theimage. For example, communication characteristic identificationcomponent 120 may store a communication characteristic in image database112. The stored communication characteristic may be associated with animage identifier for identifying the image as having been communicatedwith the communication characteristic, but the stored communicationcharacteristic may also be associated with one or more stored contentcharacteristics associated with the image.

System 100 may include means for using an association between thecontent and communication characteristics of an image to associate asecond image having the same content characteristic with thecommunication characteristic. For example, image capture device 102 orimage communicator 104 may receive an image having the same contentcharacteristic as a previously received image. Content characteristicidentification component 110 may compare the content characteristics oftwo or more images for determining whether the images have the same orsimilar content characteristics. According to one embodiment, contentcharacteristic identification component 110 may determine that theimages have the same content by comparing one or more facialcharacteristics in the images to determine whether the facialcharacteristics are the same or similar. For example, image database 112may include an image associated with particular facial characteristics.A captured image may include the same or similar facial characteristicsas the image in image database 112. Content characteristicidentification component 110 may determine that the image in database112 and the captured image have the same content characteristics becausethe images include facial characteristics that are the same or similar.Database 112 may associate an image with a communication characteristicfor one or more previously received images. The communicationcharacteristic may be associated with an image identifier thatidentifies the image, but may also be associated with a stored contentcharacteristic associated with the image. A communication action may beperformed for the image based on the communication characteristic.

According to another embodiment, content characteristic identificationcomponent 110 may determine that the images have the same content bycomparing one or more scene characteristics in the images to determinewhether the scene characteristics are the same or similar. For example,component 110 may access a stored image having particular scenecharacteristics. A captured image may include the same or similar scenecharacteristics as the stored image. Component 110 may determine thatthat there is an association between the image in database 112 and thecaptured image because the images include scene characteristics that arethe same or similar.

Image communicator 118 may be operable to perform a communication for animage corresponding to a communication characteristic associated withthe image. For example, image communicator 118 may attach the image toan e-mail message and send the e-mail message, post the image on awebsite, share the image over an instant messaging network, and/or sharethe image via a mobile phone. Image communicator 118 may perform theaction of not communicating an image.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for associatingan image with a communication characteristic according to an embodimentof the subject matter described herein. Referring to FIG. 2, in block200, a content characteristic of a first image is identified.Communication of the first image may be monitored to identify acommunication characteristic of the first image (block 202). In block204, the content characteristic is associated with the communicationcharacteristic. The association between the content and communicationcharacteristics may be used to associate a second image having thecontent characteristic with the communication characteristic (block206).

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process forassociating an image with a communication characteristic according to anembodiment of the subject matter described herein. Referring to FIG. 3A,one or more images may be received by system 100 (block 300). Forexample, the images may be images captured by image capture device 102and/or images received by image communicator 104 from network 106.

In block 302, content characteristic identification component 110 maydetermine content characteristics of one or more of the received images.For example, facial identification component 114 may determine one ormore facial characteristics in the images. In another example, sceneidentification component 116 may determine one or more scenecharacteristics in the images. The images and associated contentcharacteristics may be stored in image database 112 (block 304). Imageshaving the same or similar content characteristics may be groupedtogether.

Based on the contents of an image, facial identification component 114may determine a person's identity. The person's identify may be acontent characteristic of the image. In addition to the commerciallyavailable facial recognition products described above, an exemplarymethod for face recognition is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,111,517 toAtick et al. Briefly, this method includes applying multiscale searchalgorithms to search for faces in low resolution and switching to highresolution only when the low resolution search indicates a head-likeshape. Once a face has been detected, the head's shape, position, size,and pose can be determined. Next, the head may be normalized by scaling,rotating, and warping, so that the face can be registered and mappedinto a canonical size and pose. An internal representation scheme can beemployed to translate facial data into a unique coded characterizationof the face of each individual. Next, the facial characterization can becompared to stored facial characterizations to determine a match.

Recognized faces may be assigned a pseudo name for identifying the face.Further, a user may input a real name for recognized faces forassociating a real name with a recognized face. Component 114 may usethis method or any other suitable facial recognition method to determinea facial characteristic in an image. Further, scene identificationcomponent 116 may use a similar method for recognizing scenecharacteristics in images and image objects, such as a building, a car,or a ship.

Images and their associated content characteristics may be stored inimage database 112 and identified by a unique image identifier. FIGS.4A-4C illustrate block diagrams of exemplary data structures of an imagedatabase according to an embodiment of the subject matter describedherein. Although the data structures depicted in FIGS. 4A-4C (and inFIG. 5 described below) illustrate that the various exemplary datarecords of database 112 may include a particular image identifier 402,this arrangement is merely exemplary. Alternatively, contentcharacteristics may be stored in image database 112 and directlyassociated with corresponding communication characteristics withoutreference to any particular image data via an identifier, such as imageidentifier 402. The arrangement shown in these figures is but oneexample of how content and associated communication characteristics maybe stored in database 112.

Referring to FIG. 4A, a data structure 400 includes an image identifier402 and an image data 404. Image identifier 402 may include a uniqueidentifier for identifying an image. Image data 404 may include the dataof an image, such as digital image data.

Referring to FIG. 4B, a data structure 406 includes an image identifier402 and facial characteristics data 408. Facial characteristics data 408may include information for identifying facial characteristics in theimage corresponding to image identifier 402. The image identifier may beused for associating the facial characteristics of the image with dataof the image in database 112.

Referring to FIG. 4C, a data structure 410 includes an image identifier402 and scene characteristics 412. Scene characteristics 412 may includeinformation for identifying scene characteristics in the imagecorresponding to image identifier 402. The image identifier may be usedfor associating the scene characteristics of the image with data of theimage in database 112. Exemplary scene characteristics include scenetype data 414, color data 416, texture data 418, contrast data 420, andbrightness data 422.

Table 1 below shows exemplary entries including an image identifier andscene characteristics that may be stored in an image database. It shouldbe pointed out that image database 112 is a logical database that may berealized using any known information management and processingtechniques, including, for example, relational databases,object-oriented databases, hierarchical databases, lookup tables, andthe like.

TABLE 1 Exemplary Entries Including an Image Identifier and SceneCharacteristics Image ID Scene Color Texture Contrast Brightness 1Stadium Red Soft Medium High 2 Stadium Red Fuzzy High Medium 3 ForestGreen Sharp Medium Low 4 Forest Green Sharp Low HighIn Table 1, an image corresponding to image identifier 1 may include astadium scene, a red color, a soft texture, a medium contrast, and ahigh brightness. An image corresponding to image identifier 2 mayinclude a stadium scene, a red color, a fuzzy texture, a high contrast,and a medium brightness. An image corresponding to image identifier 3may include a forest scene, a green color, a sharp texture, a mediumcontrast, and a low brightness. An image corresponding to imageidentifier 4 may include a forest scene, a green color, a sharp texture,a low contrast, and a high brightness. Scene identification component116 may include functionality for identifying a scene, a color, atexture, a contrast, and a brightness of an image, as described above.

Referring again to FIG. 3A, in block 306, image communicator 104 mayperform a communication action for one or more of the images. Forexample, image communicator 104 may receive instructions forcommunicating one or more images to network 106. A user may inputcommands into user interface 108 for communicating an image. The imagemay be communicated by attaching the image to an e-mail message, postingthe image on a website, sharing the image over an instant messagingnetwork, and/or sharing the image via a mobile phone. In another examplefor performing a communication action, image communicator 104 mayreceive instruction for not communicating one or more images. In thisexample, a user may input commands into user interface 108 to notcommunicate an image.

In block 308, one or more communication characteristics for the one ormore images may be stored in image database 112. For example, imagecommunication monitor 118 may monitor communication of one or moreimages. Communication characteristic identification component 120 mayidentify one or more communication characteristics based on themonitoring and storing of the communication characteristics in database112. The communication characteristics may be characteristics of thecommunication actions performed for images. The stored communicationcharacteristics may identify associated images by a unique imageidentifier, but may be associated with one or more contentcharacteristics in database 112 without reference to any particularimage data or image identifier. Communication characteristics may be anattribute of a communication action performed for the associated image.Exemplary communication characteristics include whether the user hassent the image to or received the image from a particular destination orsource address, destination or source data, such as to whom an image wassent or received, when an image was received or sent, and the time lagbetween when an image was created and when the image was sent by theuser to a specified recipient or received by the user from anotheraddress.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary data structure forcommunication characteristics according to an embodiment of the subjectmatter described herein. Referring to FIG. 5, a data structure 500 mayinclude an image identifier 402 and communication characteristics data502. Communication characteristics data 502 may include information foridentifying communication characteristics in the image corresponding toimage identifier 402. Exemplary communication characteristics includeaddress data 504, time data 506, communication modality data 508, sourcedata 510, and destination 512. Address data 504 may include a sourceaddress from which images having certain image characteristic have beenreceived, a destination address to which such images have been sent, orboth. Alternatively, one or more of communication characteristics data502, such as address data 504, may be used to index data structure 500for purposes of associating communication characteristics data 502 withthe appropriate facial characteristics data 408 and scenecharacteristics data 412. Table 2 below shows exemplary entries includesan image identifier and communication characteristics that may be storedin an image database.

TABLE 2 Exemplary Entries Including an Image Identifier andCommunication Characteristics Commu- Re- Image Destination nicationSender ceiver ID Address Date/Time Modality Name Name 1 e@m.com Jan. 1,2006 MMS User 1 User 8 2 111-834-2231 Jul. 4, 2004 Cell User 1 User 4 3lmn@pqo.com Dec. 25, 2003 E-mail User 2 User 3

In Table 2, an image corresponding to image identifier 1 may include adestination e-mail address of e@m.com, a communication date of Jan. 1,2006, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) communication modality, asender name of User 1, and a receiver name of User 8. An imagecorresponding to image identifier 2 may include a destination telephonenumber of 111-834-2231, a communication date of Jul. 4, 2004, acommunication modality of a device suitable for communicating on acellular network, a sender name of User 1, and a receiver name of User4. An image corresponding to image identifier 3 may include adestination e-mail address of Imn@pqo.com, a communication date of Dec.25, 2003, a communication modality of a device suitable forcommunicating e-mail, a sender name of User 2, and a receiver name ofUser 3. Communication characteristic identification component 120 mayinclude functionality for identifying a communication's destinationaddress, date and/or time, modality, sender name, and/or receiver name.

Referring again to FIG. 3A, in block 310, system 100 may receive anotherimage. System 100 may receive the image from image capture device 102 orfrom network 106. Content characteristic identification component 110may determine one or more content characteristics of the received image(block 312). For example, the one or more characteristics may includefacial characteristics and/or scene characteristics.

According to one embodiment, a plurality of content characteristics maybe identified in the image received in block 310. A correspondingplurality of communication characteristics may be associated with theplurality of content characteristics. For example, other images (such asthe images received in block 300) may include one or more of the contentcharacteristics and be associated with a plurality of communicationcharacteristics. A majority voting method may be used to determine whichof the plurality of communication characteristics to associate with theimage received in block 310. For example, the image received in block310 may be associated with a communication characteristic of an imagehaving most of the content characteristics of the image received inblock 310.

Content character identification component 110 may compare a contentcharacteristic of the image received in block 310 to a stored contentcharacteristic of a previously received image (block 314) to determinewhether there is a content match (block 316). If there is not a match ofthe content characteristics, the image received in block 310 may becommunicated (block 318). The image may be communicated based on userinput. The content characteristic of the image received in block 310 mayalso be stored and associated with a plurality of previously receiveimages having the same and/or similar content characteristics.

In block 320 of FIG. 3B, image database 112 may be updated based on thecommunication action performed for the image. For example, a contentcharacteristic for the image may be stored in database 112 andassociated with a communication characteristic of the communicationaction performed for the image. The stored content characteristic andcommunication characteristic may be associated with subsequentlyreceived images having a matching content characteristic. As a result,when an image having a matching content characteristic is received, thereceived image may be matched to the image associated with acommunication characteristic and then matched to the communicationcharacteristic associated with the image.

Referring again to FIG. 3A, if there is a match of the contentcharacteristics in block 316, the image received in block 310 may beassociated with a communication characteristic of one or more imageshaving a matching content characteristic (block 322). The associationmay include storing the communication characteristic with an imageidentifier identifying the image, but may include storing thecommunication characteristic with an identifier of the matching contentcharacteristic(s).

Further, in block 324, a communication action may be determined based onthe communication characteristics of one or more images having matchingcontent characteristics. The communication action may include one ormore of the communication characteristics. For example, thecommunication action may be attaching the image to an e-mail to aparticular destination. In one example, one or more images having thesame or similar content characteristics may be grouped and communicatedtogether.

Alternatively, a plurality of communication actions may be suggested toa user based on matches for content characteristics. For example, theuser may be prompted to select a communication action from among thecommunication actions corresponding to the best matches for contentcharacteristics.

In block 326, the user may be prompted whether to perform thecommunication action for the image received in block 310 associated withthe communication characteristic. The communication characteristic maybe a communication characteristic of a communication action previouslyperformed for an image having the same content characteristic as theimage received in block 310. A display of user interface 108 may displaythe prompt to a user. In one example, images grouped together with thesame or similar content characteristics may be presented to the userwith a communication action for allowing the user to select whether toperform the recommended communication action.

In block 328, system 100 may receive a positive indication or a negativeindication to the prompting in block 326. If a positive indication isreceived, a communication action may be performed for the image (block330). The communication action performed for the image may have thecommunication characteristic associated with the image. For example, thecommunication characteristic associated with the image may be to sendthe image to a particular e-mail destination. In this example, thecommunication action includes attaching the image to an e-mail andsending the e-mail to the identified destination. Image database 112 maybe updated based on the communication action performed for the image(block 320).

If a negative indication is received at block 328, system 100 mayreceive input for communicating the image (block 332). For example, auser may input commands into user interface 108 for performing analternate communication action for the image. The alternatecommunication action may be performed for the image (block 334).

In block 320, image database 112 may be updated based on thecommunication action performed for the image. According to oneembodiment, other images stored in database 112 and having the samecontent characteristic as the image received at block 326 may beassociated with the communication characteristic. Alternatively, theassociation between content and communication characteristics may bedirectly updated in database 112 without reference to any particularimage or image identifier.

According to one embodiment, image may be grouped and sent according tocontent characteristics. For example, images having the same or similarcontent characteristics may be collected over a period of time andcommunicated as a group to a common destination. The contentcharacteristics of the images may be associated with a commoncommunication characteristic. For example, all images including aparticular person may be communicated via e-mail to the personidentified in the images. The e-mail may be sent to the person after apredetermined period of time or after a predetermined number of theimages including the person are collected. Further, the communication ofthe group of images may be suggested to a user before communicating thegroup. The user may indicate whether or not to communicate the images.

In one exemplary scenario, a user may take pictures with a camera on aregular basis. In one instance, the user takes pictures when his niecesand nephews visit, and when they attend a sporting event with the user.In another instance, the user takes pictures when he visits his parentin Las Vegas. In yet another instance the user takes pictures when hevisits an aunt and uncle. Further, in another instance, the user takespictures of friends at a social event. In accordance with the subjectmatter described herein, when the user uploads the pictures to hiscomputer including the technology described herein, the technology mayprovide suggestions for whom to send the captured pictures to, andsuggested methods for communicating the pictures. The pictures can beorganized in groups for automatic sending according to faces in thepictures and/or scenes in the pictures. The technology can suggestdestinations for sending the groups to different destinations. Forexample, pictures of the user's nieces and nephews may sent by e-mail tohis mother's e-mail account based on previous pictures matching thenieces and nephews faces having been sent there. Further, the images maybe grouped according to the mode of communication on the user's device.For example, one picture from a game that includes the faces of a numberof players and was sent to a friend by MMS via his mobile phone inprevious communications can be grouped with the pictures sent in thosecommunications for easy retrieval or reference.

Instead of, or in addition to, suggesting to a user a plurality ofcommunication actions to perform on an image based on matches forcontent characteristics, FIG. 3C depicts another embodiment in which animage may be suggested to the user for inclusion in a communicationbased on a communication characteristic of a communication action.Monitor 118 may be operable to implement or control the implementationof the processes described with respect to FIG. 3C.

According to the exemplary embodiment, in response to an occurrence of acommunication action associated with the communication characteristic inblock 336 a determination may be made in block 338 as to whether thecommunication characteristic associated with the image is alsoassociated with the communication action. In block 340, the associationbetween the communication characteristic and the image may be used tolocate the image. The user may then be prompted in block 342 as towhether to include the image in a communication characteristicassociated with the communication action when the communicationcharacteristic is associated with the communication action. Promptingthe user may include displaying the image upon occurrence of thecommunication action. An indication as to whether to include the imagein the communication may be received at block 344. The image may beincluded in the communication at block 346 when a positive indication isreceived at block 344. Otherwise, the user may be prompted at block 348as to whether to remove the association between the contentcharacteristic and the communication characteristic when a negativeindication is received at block 344. Database 112 may then be updatedaccordingly.

In a related exemplary scenario, a user may have images that couldpotentially be sent to the user's mother. In this example, the user maystart to compose an e-mail message to his mother. The arrangementdescribed above may identify the e-mail address of the user's mother asa communication characteristic of the message, and determine that theaddress is one to which images of the user's nieces and nephews havebeen sent in the past. The arrangement can then identify a set of imageshaving the e-mail address as an associated communication characteristic.The arrangement can then prompt the user to send one or more of theidentified set of images to his mother's address in the e-mail message.Thus, the action of creating a new message to a particular recipientserves as a trigger for finding images that may be appropriate to sendto a certain recipient.

It will be understood that various details of the subject matterdescribed herein may be changed without departing from the scope of thesubject matter described herein. Furthermore, the foregoing descriptionis for the purpose of illustration only, and not for the purpose oflimitation.

1. A method for associating an image with a communicationcharacteristic, the method comprising: receiving a first image;analyzing the first image to identify a content characteristic of thefirst image; receiving user input resulting in a communication includingidentifying the first image, the communication associated with acommunication action having a communication characteristic thatidentifies a recipient associated with the communication; receiving asecond image; analyzing the second image to identify the contentcharacteristic of the first image in the second image; prompting a useras to whether to include the second image in second communicationassociated with the communication action, wherein prompting the userincludes providing information identifying the communicationcharacteristic of the first image based on the identified contentcharacteristic; and receiving, in response to providing informationidentifying the communication characteristic, user input resulting inthe second communication associated with the communication action,wherein the second communication includes the communicationcharacteristic that identifies the recipient and includes the secondimage, wherein at least one of the preceding actions is performed on atleast one hardware component.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein receivingthe first image includes receiving the first image over a network. 3.The method of claim 1 wherein the communication action includesproviding the first image for posting on a website page associated withthe recipient.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the communicationcharacteristic includes a receiver name that identifies the recipient.5. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing the first image to identifythe content characteristic of the first image includes identifying afacial characteristic of a subject present in the first image.
 6. Themethod of claim 5 wherein the subject present in the first image isassociated with a receiver name that identifies the recipient.
 7. Themethod of claim 1 comprising grouping a plurality of images having asame content characteristic.
 8. A computer program product comprisingcomputer executable instructions tangibly embodied in a computerreadable medium for performing steps comprising: receiving a firstimage; analyzing the first image to identify a content characteristic ofthe first image; receiving user input resulting in a communicationincluding the first image, the communication associated with acommunication action having a communication characteristic thatidentifies a recipient associated with the communication; receiving asecond image; analyzing the second image to identify the contentcharacteristic of the first image in the second image; prompting a useras to whether to include the second image in a second communicationassociated with the communication action, wherein prompting the userincludes providing information identifying the communicationcharacteristic of the first image based on the identified contentcharacteristic; and receiving, in response to providing informationidentifying the communication characteristic, user input resulting inthe second communication associated with the communication action,wherein the second communication includes the communicationcharacteristic that identifies the recipient and includes the secondimage.